If you’re new to climate disclosure, it can be hard to know where to start.?
More and more companies are facing pressure from investors, regulators, and customers who want to see how they’re managing their climate impacts and risks. Yet knowing what to disclose — and how — can be confusing.?
Below, we provide practical advice for beginners, including a breakdown of key reporting frameworks and a step-by-step guide for preparing your first disclosure.?
What is Driving Climate Disclosure Requests??
Investors, customers, and financial institutions want to manage risk.?
It comes down to risk management. As climate change worsens, companies face growing physical risks, like natural disasters and supply chain disruptions, as well as transition risks, like regulations, litigation, shifting consumer demand, and reputational damage.?
Investors and financial institutions want to reduce their exposure to these risks (and capitalize on climate-related opportunities). To do that, they need visibility into the environmental performance of their investment partners and portfolio companies. More than representing $142T USD in assets now work with the voluntary reporting platform CDP, which manages disclosures from over 23,000 companies worldwide. Companies with exposure to climate risks may face higher borrowing costs, lower credit ratings, or declining valuation, while those with low-carbon offerings stand to gain market share.?
It’s not just lenders and investors that are paying attention. With growing public scrutiny over sustainability claims, customers also want to understand the risk exposure in their value chains — a recent study by HEC found that of companies consider sustainability criteria when making purchasing decisions. The result is an escalation in demand for transparent, reliable climate data.?
The Climate Disclosure Regulatory Landscape
Key principles and regulations.?
Climate disclosure regulations have evolved rapidly over the last several years, but there are a few common threads. Most regulations follow principles from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), and the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Getting familiar with these underlying principles will help set you up to respond to a variety of disclosure requests.?
Below is a snapshot of key disclosure regulations you might encounter (for a comprehensive list, you can visit 麻豆原创’s Climate Policy Library).?
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
The CSRD requires disclosure of scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions from large EU-based public and private entities, including organizations with subsidiaries in Europe. In March 2025, the EU introduced an Omnibus Sustainability Package proposing several changes to timing, scope, and requirements within the CSRD. It would postpone deadlines for those due to report in 2026 to 2028. It would also reduce obligations for smaller companies, taking small and medium enterprises (SMEs) out of scope. That means the CSRD would apply only to entities with 1,000+ employees and either a turnover of above 50M EUR or a balance sheet above 25M EUR.?
California SB 253
The Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, SB 253, is a new law requiring businesses with revenues greater than $1B USD that operate in California to report their greenhouse gas emissions publicly. Under the policy, organizations must disclose scope 1 and 2 emissions with limited assurance in 2026, using data from FY2025. There is a one-year phase-in period for scope 3 reporting, meaning companies will need to report on scopes 1, 2, and 3 in 2027 using FY2026 data.?
SECR
The Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) policy is the UK’s sustainability reporting framework. The regulation came into effect on April 1, 2019. SECR reporting is part of annual financial reporting, so disclosures are due at the time of a company’s regular annual reporting cycle. SECR reporting periods run for 12 months, so if your company uses an 18-month financial year, you will still need to publish SECR reports every 12 months.?
Voluntary Climate Disclosure?
Reporting through EcoVadis and CDP.
Even if you’re not required to comply with mandatory reporting regulations, you may find yourself responding to a request from an investor or customer using a voluntary reporting platform like CDP or EcoVadis. If you’ve received one of these requests, you’re in good company. Last year, reported through CDP, and Here’s a closer look at the two voluntary reporting entities:?
CDP?
The CDP (formerly the Climate Disclosure Project) enables companies to share environmental data in response to formal requests from customers and investors. CDP invites organizations to fill out a detailed questionnaire, then assigns them a score based on environmental performance, governance practices, and commitment to climate action. For more details on responding to CDP requests, you can visit our how-to guide.?
EcoVadis
EcoVadis is another voluntary reporting platform. It evaluates businesses : environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. It focuses on promoting supply chain transparency and helping organizations improve sustainability performance. Receiving a request to disclose through EcoVadis is becoming increasingly common, particularly from purchasers looking to evaluate their suppliers’ sustainability practices. You can find practical tips for acing your EcoVadis assessment here.??
Why Disclose??
Disclosing can help boost efficiency, secure capital, and build business value.
Once again, it’s about risk and opportunity. Disclosure of environmental performance is quickly becoming an expected business norm. If investors or customers are asking you to disclose (or competitors are already doing it), it’s best to respond as transparently and thoroughly as possible.?
Disclosure can also help you build and protect business value. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and climate disclosure allows you to identify gaps and opportunities, as well as benchmark against peers. Tracking emissions often leads to cost-saving efficiency measures, like reductions in waste and energy. You can use data insights from your climate reporting to drive action, reduce risks, secure capital, and future-proof your organization.??
Practical Steps for Preparing Your First Climate Disclosure
Step 1: Understand Relevant Reporting Requirements?
First, you need to know which framework(s) you’re responding to. Is it a regulation like CSRD, or a request through CDP? Next, you should get clear on the scope of the request: Do you need to report on scopes 1, 2, and 3? Do you need to share an assessment of your climate-related financial risk? While different frameworks share common themes, they each require organizations to slice and dice data differently. It’s helpful to understand underlying principles from ISSB, the GHG Protocol, and PCAF so you can align your responses and streamline future reporting requests.?
Step 2: Define Your Organizational Boundaries and Governance Strategy
Before you can identify the data you’ll need, you must get clear about your organizational boundaries. Is your organization part of a parent company or a subsidiary? This will determine who is in financial control of the assets, who has ownership over the GHG emissions, and the scope of emissions within your boundaries. Ideally, you’ll also create a clear governance strategy at this stage. Climate reporting necessitates board oversight and heavy cross-functional collaboration, and starting with a shared understanding of purpose and roles will save you time in the long run.?
Step 3: Determine Your Data Needs?
Regulations like CSRD and SB 253 require you to report on your scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Calculating scope 3 emissions can be a daunting task, but you can break it into manageable steps. First, you need to identify which scope 3 categories are material for your company. Technology can help with this — for example, 麻豆原创 Pro provides users with recommendations on which of the 15 categories are likely material, so they can narrow the list down. Software can also facilitate data exchange: If your scope 3 reporting requires you to engage suppliers, you can provide them with a free, self-guided carbon accounting platform to ensure consistent and reliable calculations.?
Step 4: Implement a Centralized Data Management System?
A centralized, reliable data management system is crucial as you navigate different disclosure requirements. Emissions data is complex and is often housed in many different places within an organization. Automated carbon accounting software is the best way to ensure consistency, avoid miscalculations, and prepare for audit-ready disclosures.?
Software that integrates different standards and regulations brings the added benefit of improving efficiency and accuracy. For example, 麻豆原创 Sustainability Reporting enables you to generate GHG metrics reports specifically for different frameworks — including CDP, CA SB 253, CSRD, SECR, and ISSB; it also includes a one-click export feature that will populate answers directly into the CDP questionnaire.?
Step 5: Identify and Engage Data Owners?
Data collection is the step that typically slows down the disclosure process. You’ll likely need to reach out to several other functions (for example, finance, facilities, logistics, and HR) to get the information you need. If you start with a solid understanding of your organizational structure (and strong relationships with other teams), this step will be easier.?
It’s helpful to be able to clearly articulate the business value of climate disclosure; that way, you can cultivate buy-in and understanding from the teams that manage the data you need — which will ultimately save time. For many companies (like Petcurean), this process brings the added benefit of spurring organization-wide collaboration and a sense of shared purpose.??
Where Data Typically Lives in an Organization
- Finance & Procurement: Supplier invoices, purchasing records, and spend data.
- Facilities & Operations: Energy bills, fuel consumption, HVAC data, waste logs.
- HR & Travel Teams: Employee commuting surveys, business travel logs.
- IT & Data Teams: Software tools tracking emissions, IoT sensors.
- Supply Chain & Logistics: Shipping and transportation records, supplier reports.
Step 6. Ensure Data Accuracy and Transparency
Investors and customers need to know that your data is credible. Regulations like the CSRD and SB 253 include assurance requirements, so your calculations and methodologies should be transparent and traceable. Using validated methodologies like the GHG Protocol will help build confidence in your calculations.?
Software that offers full visibility and ownership of your data will set you up for stronger reporting. You should be able to easily trace data and see the accounting frameworks, formulas, emissions factors, and other components that were used to arrive at your footprint. You should also have access to data logs that show when information is added, modified, or deleted, and who made the change.?
Step 7: Stay Up-to-Date on Climate Reporting Developments
The disclosure landscape continues to shift, and you should make sure you’re staying on top of new developments. This is another area where technology can help — some carbon accounting platforms automatically incorporate the latest updates to frameworks and regulations directly into your calculations, so you know your disclosures are accurate.?
A Foundation for Confident Reporting
Sustainability regulations and standards are still evolving, but demand for climate disclosure isn’t going away. To stay nimble in an ever-changing landscape, you need a foundation of credible, transparent carbon data. When you’re confident in your emissions calculations, you’ll not only be able to respond to shifting stakeholder demands — you’ll be better equipped to adapt to climate risks and opportunities and build a sustainability strategy that future-proofs your organization.?
